marina

Forms

marina f (plural marinas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin marīna, the feminine of the Latin adjective “of the sea” used as a noun.^[2][3][1] For the Academy it is from Spanish marino instead, but Corominas dates the noun to about 1250 and the adjective only to 1335.^[4][5][6] According to Bénaben the noun first meant sea water and the shore, after Latin aqua marina (“sea water”) and loca marina (“places by the sea”), and only later a fleet.^[3] Gómez de Silva derives the sense “navy” from French marine, which in Old French meant the land by the sea.^[7]

The same Latin word is Portuguese marinha, Galician mariña, Catalan marina and Italian marina (“coast; maritime affairs”).^[8][9] The adjective is formed of mare (“sea”) and the suffix -īnus.^[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the noun first in the Libro de Apolonio (stanza 2660), of about 1250.^[6][5] Alfonso X's Lapidario uses marina as the name of a stone, a green tutty, and his General estoria (1272–1275) has it for the land by the sea.^[11][12]

Semantic evolution

“Coast, land by the sea” was the main sense for centuries: it is the first in the Diccionario de Autoridades, with quotations from Mármol and Mendoza, and in Spanish America in 1539 a chronicler hears Indians shouting por la montaña e marina “in the mountains and along the coast”.^[13][14] The same dictionary records the art of sailing and a painting of the sea, ships or a harbour.^[13] The Academy added “the body of naval employees and the ships of a state” in 1843; the Marina de guerra and Marina mercante are the navy and the merchant fleet.^[15][16]

The DLE now lists these senses under the adjective marino, not as a headword of their own as in the 2001 edition.^[16][4] In Asturias marina is the coast and its farmland, and les Marines the coast between Gijón and Tazones.^[17] In the Dominican Republic it is a private dock for pleasure boats, and in Mexico a soft oval bread roll with a filling.^[18][19]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – first recorded, in the Libro de Apolonio.^[6][5]
• 1272–1275 – “land by the sea” in Alfonso X's General estoria.^[11]
• 1539 – an early record from the Americas, in Nueva Granada.^[14]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the coast, the art of navigation and the seascape.^[13]
• 1843 – the Academy adds the navy and the ships of a state.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy derives it from marino.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. The art or science of navigation.^[16][4]
2. (often capitalised) The navy, the naval forces of a state; also short for marina de guerra.^[16][1]
3. (often capitalised) The people who serve in the navy.^[16]
4. The coast, the land next to the sea.^[16]
5. (art) A seascape, a painting that represents the sea.^[16][2]
6. (Dominican Republic) A marina, a private dock for pleasure boats.^[18]

Related words

• mar
• marino
• marinero
• marítimo
• Latin marinus
• French marine

Usage notes

Marina mercante is the merchant fleet of a country.^[16] Written with a capital, la Marina is the navy of a particular state.^[16][21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. marina
3. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. marina
4. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. marina
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. mar
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 837
7. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. marina
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. marinus
9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. marinus
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. marina
12. ^ Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org
13. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 500
14. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. marina
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 462
16. ^ a b c d e f g h i Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. marino
17. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. marina
18. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. marina
19. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. marina
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 680
21. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. marina